Valerio Cheli Biography
Valerio Cheli was born in Florence on 30 May 1923 and from an early age was fascinated by color and drawing, but his parents, dreaming of a future for him as an elementary school teacher, enrolled him in a teacher training institute. However, this type of study was not for him, and after a failure he was enrolled at the “Leonardo Da Vinci” Industrial Technical Institute, where he completed his studies until he obtained a diploma in mechanical designer. He immediately realizes that in the sector of work presented to him, his imagination does not have many opportunities to express itself. He thus began working as a poster designer, later entering as an assistant in the workshop of Rodolfo Fanfani, an artist who executed and restored frescoes, decorations and stained glass windows in the laboratory of the "Conventino" of Porta Romana. In that period he attended the "Free School of the Nude" at the Academy of Fine Arts under the guidance of Giorgio Settala. In these same years he began working in the studio of Guido and Silvio Polloni. Thus began a period of rich and varied experiences, sometimes almost adventurous, which led him across all of Tuscany and part of central Italy, to execute and restore stained glass windows and decorations. With Silvio Polloni, whom Cheli has always considered his true master, he also worked on some stage sets for the Teatro della Pergola. At the beginning of the 1950s he "opened his own shop", renting the studio in via dei Della Robbia as a painter, which he held until his death. Already at the end of the 1930s he began to exhibit in collective exhibitions and reviews, first regional and then national, where he did not lack recognition and prizes, among which, in 1955, the purchase prize of the Municipality of Florence for the Gallery of Modern Art. For many years "il Cheli", as his colleagues and family called him, was part of the Council of the Society of Fine Arts - Circolo degli Artisti "Casa di Dante" where, although very young, he had been admitted in November 1950 in the category " artists”, this thanks to the appreciation of his work expressed by Galileo Chini. In 1958 he was active among the painters gathered in the “Torre di Arnolfo” cooperative. Even before that he had joined the historic "Donatello Group", actively collaborating in the preparation of the annual outdoor exhibitions since the first editions. Over the years he became an advisor to the Group, then secretary, vice-president and finally honorary member. In the year 2000 the board of directors of the Donatello Group decided to award it the "Donatello Award", which annually pays homage to a personality who has done well for the city of Florence. Her effigy was portrayed by the artist Amalia Ciardi Duprè, who immortalized her in a bronze medal, and this “Pisanelliana” was donated to the Bargello National Museum for acquisition by the Italian State and conservation in the appropriate collection. The works of Valerio Cheli appear in private and public collections both in Italy and in the rest of the world. After a serious heart disease, which forced him to undergo complicated open heart surgery, he died in Florence on 8 February 2002.
